Ubias: "We launched Common Heir in May 2020 and now, we don't know the difference between starting a business remotely and in the middle of a global pandemic versus not. With nearly a decade in manufacturing and operations under my belt, I've seen that the key to success in this industry is the ability to remain agile and to always have a back-up plan . . . or three. Building a global supply chain in the midst of a pandemic cemented this fact for me in a profound way. It forced us to be smarter, more efficient, and taught us the significance of agility. Operationally, we encountered unprecedented material and transit delays were obstacles that we thought we'd successfully doomsday planned for yet found we still needed a doomsday 2.0 plan to reach different milestones. Fundamental to the brand, building a community based only on our vision, and without being able to disclose what our product was or have product to share in real time was a slow and steady exercise in patience. Ultimately, it was well worth the approach and we have formed an amazing, uplifting, and passionate community."
Lin: "When we learned that our solution for delivering sustainable skin care without plastic relied on technology that wasn't 'make it in our kitchen' levels, we knew we needed a bit of capital to even test the concept. We had strong momentum going into March 2020, only for LA to shut down due to COVID a week later, and half the investment amount we needed pulled out due to the tremendous amount of risk and uncertainty. And it really was a stressful time to think that our concept would never see the light of day. If we hadn't taken a bet to use up all our resources to conduct a beta test in May 2020, and then surprisingly had some of those early customers turn around and offer to invest in us so that we could exist, we never would have made it. We're so grateful to our community for helping us get here."
Ubias: "The silver lining is that we built all of this in the midst of a pandemic after meeting in person twice. It completely upended my perception of the "right way" or "right time" to start a business. It forced us to be smarter, more efficient and taught us the significance of agility."
